Courses
Africana Studies 1XX - Digital Inequalities: Race and the Digital DivideAfricana Studies 304 - e-Black Studies: Race and Cyberculture
Africana Studies 381 - Freedom: Digital Approaches to the Past
Cinema & New Media Studies 1XX - Introduction to New Media Studies
English 255 - The Marrow of African-American Literature
English 300 - Women Filmmakers
History 180 - Exploring Culture in the Great Cities of Asia
History 280 - Chinese Culture in Imperial Times
Japanese 356 - Introduction to Japanese Film
Classical Studies 100 - Socrates, Cleopatra, and the Caesars
AFRST 1XX - Digital Inequalities: Race and the Digital Divide (S'11), Nieves
This course will examine the role of race as a social construct in the digital divide across the African diaspora. Back to Top
AFRST 304 - e-Black Studies: Race and Cyberculture (S'09), Nieves
This seminar course explores cyberspace, the most powerful and frequently inhabited site within contemporary culture. Students will explore specific themes such as, identity, community, bodies, virtuality, and sexuality through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) and intersectional analysis. The term 'eBlack Studies' describes the ongoing application of current digital information technology towards the production, dissemination, and collection of historical knowledge critical to the discipline of Black Studies and to the overall black experience. The course charts the future of scholarship, teaching, and community work through the use of eBlack Studies. Back to Top
AFRST 381 - Freedom: Digital Approaches to the Past (F'09), Nieves
We will interrogate freedom through the social and historical lens of the American Underground Railroad (and abolition) in Upstate New York. Hamilton College will be used as the geographical locus for the semester. This seminar will focus on the process of creating digital history. The course readings, workshops, and discussions expose students to the philosophy and practice of the emerging field of "History and New Media." Ultimately the course is designed to provide students with an appreciation for and understanding of African American cultural and historical study as well as an opportunity to develop familiarity and proficiency in the use of computer technology to access information and create new forms of knowledge. As historian William G. Thomas has argued, "Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that works with the new communication technologies of the computer, the Internet network, and software systems." Back to Top
CNMS 1XX - Introduction to New Media Studies, Faculty TBN
This course introduces students to "new media," and to New Media Studies, as a set of technologies defined by social, historical and cultural contexts. It examines new media technologies from a multi/transdisciplinary perspective while promoting a hands-on, active engagement with the technologies as a means for analysis and critique. New media transforms culture and social relations by producing new kinds of representations and constructions as subjects. The course broadly considers the multiple applications and implications of digital information and communication technologies in a globalizing world. Back to Top
ENG 255 -The Marrow of African-American Literature (S'09), Odamtten
This course explores how African-Americans, in the face of enslavement, exclusion, and terror, produced literature expressing their identities and aspirations. In examining themes such as abduction, separation, and resistance, students will assess the inscription of self on the emergent national culture by writers such as Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Wilson, Frances Harper, Sutton Griggs, and Charles Chesnutt. Traditional written assignments, critical discussion, and digital media coursework in the computer lab are required.
ENG 300 - Women Filmmakers, O'Neill
The history of cinema takes on new dimensions when the focus is on women filmmakers. Their contributions begin with the earliest productions of the silent era; their influence ranges from narrative and documentary to experimental films; and their work raises awareness of the different struggles in women's lives around the world. By raising questions of genre, gender, and cultural identity, this course will investigate alternative histories of cinema and develop new approaches to feminist film theory. Assignments include research papers, and two original video projects. Back to Top
HIST 180 - Exploring Culture in the Great Cities of Asia, Wilson & Trivedi
An interdisciplinary exploration of Asian cultures through cities in China, India and Japan from early times to the 20th century, this course examines the history and geography of greater Asia, its diverse peoples and their philosophical and literary traditions, their religious and commercial practices, and their art. Back to Top
HIST 280 - Chinese Culture in Imperial Times, Wilson
An in-depth study of late imperial Chinese cultural, intellectual and political history from the 11th through the 18th centuries, the course focuses on imperial and popular religious cults; the decline of the medieval aristocracy and emergence of the Confucian gentry and civil bureaucracy in the 11th century, the civil service examination system, footbinding; and conceptions of gender. Back to Top
JPN 356 - Introduction to Japanese Film, Omori
This course traces the history of one of the world's most innovative film industries. Since the early 20th century, Japanese film makers have experimented with and improved upon cinema; their work has been influential not only in Japan but throughout the world. From the drama of early silent movies to anime, the course surveys some of the "greatest hits" of Japanese film, whether widely popular or critically acclaimed. This exploration of cinema in Japan will offer both a new perspective on cinema itself as well as an opportunity to view the genre's development in a specific cultural context. Back to Top
CLST 100F - Socrates, Cleopatra and the Caesars, Wells
An introduction to classical studies and the ancient Mediterranean world that focuses on some pivotal figures. Consideration of the multiple facets of ancient Mediterranean society and culture, including multiculturalism, race, class and gender. Attention to literature, art, religion, philosophy and history. Readings from ancient and modern sources, and films dealing with the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Back to Top